|
Player: Rafael Nadal
Full Name: Rafael Nadal Parera
Nickname: Rafa
Nationality: Spanish (Mallorca)
Date of Birth: June 03, 1986 (20 years old)
Recides: Manacor, Mallorca, Spain
Height: 1'85m/ 6'1"
Weight: 85kg/188lbs
Plays: Left-handed (two-handed backhand)
Clothing line: Nike
Racquet: Babolat AeroproDrive
Coach: Toni Nadal
Family: Sebastian, Ana Maria and younger sister Maria Isabel.
Became professional: 2001
Favorite Movie: Titanic, The Gladiator
Favorite Food: Sea food and pasta
Favortie past time: Playing PSP, soccer and golf, fishing, and going out with his friends in Mallorca.
Rafa's full name is Rafael Nadal Parera. He is nicknamed 'Rafa' by his country men. His father Sebastian, manages his own restaurant and glass and windows business; his mother, Ana Maria, is a housewife. He also has one younger sister called Maria Isabel.
Rafael began playing tennis at age four with his uncle Toni, who is his long-time coach. Toni has coached Rafael from the beginning of his accomplished career. Rafa played his only junior Grand Slam event at Wimbledon in 2002 and reached the semi-finals. Rafa comes from the same area (Mallorca) as his countryman Carlos Moya.
The city of Manacor is the second -biggest on the island of Mallorca. His other uncle, Miguel Angel Nadal, is a former professional soccer player with stints at FC Barcelona, Real Mallorca, and the Spanish national team, which competed in the 2002 World Cup. Miguel also played on the other World Cup teams in 1994 and '98. Aside from tennis, Rafa is a big fan of Formula One driver and countryman Fernando Alonso who won the 2005 championship for the first time and was proclaimed the youngest ever champion in the history of the sport.
With two Grand Slam titles to his name already, Rafael is the star of Spanish tennis and still, at the such young age of 20, undoubtedly has a very promising future.
2006 IN REVIEW:
2006 was a record breaking year for Rafael Nadal. The world number 2 captured 22 of his first 25 matches in the first 4 months of the year. He had 4 wins over the world No.1 Roger Federer in Dubai, ATP Master Series Monte-Carlo; a 5 hour long marathon victory at ATP Masters Rome and his best of the year which saw him beat Federer in the final of the French Open.
With Rafa's victory over Federer in the Rome finals, he equalled Guillermo Vilas's 43- match clay court winning streak and Bjorn Borg's record for most titles as a teenager with 16. He later took that clay court winning total to 60 when he retained his French Open title in June and is currently on 62 unbeaten after his Davis Cup wins in September.
The clay court season wasn’t where Rafa’s season ended though. He stunned the tennis world in July when he reached the Wimbledon final at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. Rafa made his game work on grass and cut an impress figure at The Championships overcoming every hurdle put before him before finally succumbing to the Grass Master – Roger Federer, in the final.
Rafa’s consistency through the rest of the year and the five titles he picked up throughout 2006 allowed him to qualify for the year end Masters Cup in Shanghai where he reached the semi finals – a good end to a hugely impressive year which saw him become the first player since Agassi in 1994-95 to finish season No. 2 in back-to-back years!
With so much success, it's no wonder why Rafa was given Laureus World Sports Award for Newcomer of the Year in 2006.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Holds a record 62 match unbeaten run on clay.
• Rafa claimed his 17th title of his career and his second Grand Slam trophy at the 2006 Roland Garros.
• Received the Laureus World Sports Award for Newcomer of the year in 2006.
• Rafa was named ATP most improved Player of the Year in 2005
• He was awarded the European ATP Player of The Year in 2005
• Rafa qualified for the Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai in 2005, becoming the youngest player since Andrei Medvedev to clinch a berth at the circuit finale.
• He claimed his first Grand Slam title at the French Open in Paris, where he became the second player after Mats Wilander to win in his first try.
• At 19 years, 1 month and 22 days, he has become the third teenager in history since 1973 to reach the No.2 position in the INDESIT ATP Entry Ranking, joining Boris Becker (18 years, 9 months and 17 days) and Bjorn Borg (18 years, 10 months, 2 days) as the only teenagers to be ranked No. 2.
• His 2005 wins include one Grand Slam – French Open; four Masters Series titles - Monte Carlo, Monaco (clay), Rome, Italy (clay), Montreal, Canada (hard) , Madrid , Spain (hard-indoor); and six ATP titles - Costa do Sauipe, Brazil; Acapulco, Mexico, Barcelona, Spain, Bastad, Sweden, Stuttgart, Germany and Beijing, China.
• He became the second youngest Master Series winner (18 years, 10 months) after Michael Chang (18 years and 5 months) won in Toronto in 1990, and the youngest winner in Monte Carlo since Mats Wilander in 1963 (18 years and 7 months).
• He became the youngest player in history of the Nasdaq-100 Open to reach the final in Miami.
• He now has 17 career titles and his first career win came in Mallorca, Spain in 2002.
• He also became the youngest player in history to win the Davis Cup on his first try, helping Spain to victory in the final in Seville in 2005.
• Rafa was named ATP Best Newcomer of The Year in 2003.
|
